Credit Cards Online Information

John, a junior at State U., approaches the campus health building, draws a card from his wallet and passes it near a door sensor. He hears a beep, and the door clicks open. Inside, he stops at a vending machine, inserts the same card and purchases a soft drink.

John enters the pharmacy and hands the card to the pharmacist who swipes it through a card reader. Her screen shows that John has two refills left on his prescription. She hands him the medication, swipes the card again, and the purchase is instantly billed to the John's account.

On the way to his dorm, John stops at the library and withdraws a book and a video with the same card. Next he uses the card to register his vote in the student government election. Returning to the residence hall, John presents his card to a dorm monitor who slides it into a reader and verifies that John is a student who lives in that building. In awhile, he'll use the card to buy dinner and do his laundry.

It's an extreme example, but this scene plays out daily in varying degrees on campuses around the country. The all-in-one campus card has become such an integral part of daily life for some, that the school is virtually a cash-less society.

Campus access cards have come a long way from the simple photo identification cards of not too long ago. Today's cards feature technologies for identification, building access, vending, library lending, Internet access, meal plans, banking and even medical information.

The first campus-wide, multi-application cards were introduced in 1974. They combined several features such as building access and meal plans on a "mag stripe" that interacted with a central database.

During the next few years cards became more versatile. Cards could access "stored value" applications such as copiers, microfilm readers, printers and vending machines. Bar code cards became the universal system in libraries. Digital photos were added. Proximity or "prox" cards contained a transmitter that opened locks when passed near a sensor. "Smart cards" incorporated a memory chip to store user information.

Now, new "fourth generation" cards take advantage of the Internet for a variety of administrative and user operations. (See chart below.)

Card Tricks

At St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, campus cards fulfill multiple roles, says Pat Gagnon, assistant director of security and safety and manager of access systems.

# posted by Medical Information : 4:33 AM